Queering the history of South African psychology: From apartheid to LGBTI+ affirmative practices.

Abstract

This article constructs a brief history of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues have intersected with South African psychology at key sociopolitical moments, filling a gap in current histories. Organized psychology-a primary focus of this analysis-since its first formations in 1948, mostly colluded with apartheid governments by othering queerness as psychopathology or social deviance. The National Party, both homophobic and racist, ruled the country from 1948 until the first democratic elections in 1994. The acceleration of antiapartheid struggles in the 1980s saw progressive psychologists develop more critical forms of theory and practice. However, LGBTIϩ issues remained overshadowed by the primary struggle for racial equality and democracy. Psychology's chameleon-like adaptation to evolving eras resulted in a unified organization when apartheid ended: the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). Democratic South Africa's Constitution took the bold step of protecting sexuality as a fundamental human right, galvanizing a fresh wave of LGBTIϩ scholarship post-1994. However, LGBTIϩ people still suffered prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Additionally, psychology training continued to ignore sexual orientation and gender-affirmative health care in curricula. PsySSA therefore joined the International Psychology Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Issues (IPsyNet) in 2007, catalyzing the PsySSA African LGBTIϩ Human Rights Project in 2012 and two pioneering publications: a position statement on affirmative practice in 2013, and practice guidelines for psychology professionals working with sexually and gender-diverse people in 2017. This article traces a neglected history of South African psychology, examining the political, social, and institutional factors that eventually enabled the development of LGBTIϩ affirmative psychologies. Public Significance StatementThis article traces the impact and history of apartheid on LGBTIϩ rights and research in South African psychology, and focuses on how postapartheid, organized psychology made it possible for the eventual development of Africa's first practice guidelines for psychology professionals working with sexually and gender-diverse people.

Queering global health: an urgent call for LGBT+ affirmative practices

“…18 Our scholar activism has, therefore, aspired to leverage progressive platforms to actively destabilise these epistemic injustices. 19,20 In 2013, their position statement on sexual and gender diversity centred the national Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) as an affirmative body that will not tolerate homophobia, biphobia, or transphobia in the profession. 21 An affirmative stance is an ethical practice that includes respectful recognition of diversity among people, and critical, contextual awareness about the struggles and strengths that inform the lived experiences of LGBT+ people.…”

“…24 Importantly, the guidelines were co-opted, as interdisciplinary resources for primary health-care interventions, by two other African countries who also participated in the early phases of its development. 20 These position statements and guidelines became more than mere knowledge outputs; they actively destabilised existing orthodoxies in health care and served as key reference points for broader epistemic disruption.…”

The challenges and promises of transnational LGBTQ psychology: Somewhere over and under the rainbow.

“…have taken steps to censure a psychologist who misrepresented psychological science in the case of Elena Klimova, who was charged under the Propaganda Ban as the host of the Deti-404 site, an online information and community site for LGBT youth . Although there are many notable exceptions, for example, professional psychology's involvement in hate speech and hate crimes in South Africa (Judge & Nel, 2018;Nel, 2014;Pillay et al, 2019), national psychology associations have not typically been engaged in LGBTQ advocacy .…”

“…More than 100 psychologists in Russia, where professional psychology’s role in advocacy has not been fostered, published a blistering statement about the prosecutor’s biased expert analysis in the case of the punk rock band Pussy Riot (Radio Free Europe, 2012), and both the Russian Psychological Society and a psychological institute of higher education have taken steps to censure a psychologist who misrepresented psychological science in the case of Elena Klimova, who was charged under the Propaganda Ban as the host of the Deti-404 site, an online information and community site for LGBT youth (Horne et al, 2019). Although there are many notable exceptions, for example, professional psychology’s involvement in hate speech and hate crimes in South Africa (Judge & Nel, 2018; Nel, 2014; Pillay et al, 2019), national psychology associations have not typically been engaged in LGBTQ advocacy (Horne et al, 2019).…”

Histories of psychology after Stonewall: Introduction to the special issue.

“…Would this shift in the research have been facilitated had such structures and analysis existed in the United Kingdom? Consider also how Pillay et al (2019) showed there was little recognition of sexual diversity in the critical psychology of the Apartheid era in South Africa.…”